


By Your Side

by Kurisuta



Category: Artemis Fowl - Eoin Colfer
Genre: Animal Transformation, During Canon, F/M, Fae & Fairies, Fairies, Foxes, Kitsune, Magic, Original Character(s), Originally Posted on FanFiction.Net
Language: English
Status: In-Progress
Published: 2020-11-07
Updated: 2021-03-07
Packaged: 2021-03-09 04:40:34
Rating: Teen And Up Audiences
Warnings: No Archive Warnings Apply
Chapters: 4
Words: 812
Publisher: archiveofourown.org
Story URL: https://archiveofourown.org/works/27438982
Author URL: https://archiveofourown.org/users/Kurisuta/pseuds/Kurisuta
Summary: Butler has been alone since Artemis disappeared to Hybras. He encounters a kitsune, a fairy fox, and hopes she can help him find his lost friend. But slowly he begins to bond with, even fall for the beautiful creature.
Relationships: Domovoi Butler/Original Female Character(s)





	1. Found

I had been wandering on the beach when I first saw him. He was a mountain of a man, but I sensed gentleness when he took me in his arms.

I also sensed a vast ocean of lonliness in his heart. He had lost someone dear to him.

He lay me down on the bed and got out a first aid kit.

I remembered my wounds. The world of demons was vast and everchanging. But humans remained the same. I had been hunted for sport, made to grant them luck and help them do ghastly things.

I used my abilities to sense the man’s name. Domovoi Butler.

I opened my mouth to speak, then thought better of it. It was best if he thought me a common animal.

After gently dressing my wounds, he sat me on a pillow where I drifted off to sleep.

Xxx

Butler knew at once that she was not a normal fox. He had been with Artemis long enough to know a magical creature when he saw one.

It was his hope that when she recovered she would help him pluck Artemis out of space and time and return the boy to his home.

Perhaps she would do this if he cared for her for a while.

Butler wasn’t used to having to ask for favors. He was a man of action, not diplomacy. A soldier.

But he felt surprisingly comforted when she rested her nose on his leg and slept.


	2. Trickster

I awoke inside Butler’s room. I was close to recovering my human form. My hoshi had resumed its shine.

I needed food.

Butler put a plate in front of me. Was that fish? How did he know?

I licked his face and he smiled.

I began to eat and nudged some food on the plate to share, but took the big piece for myself.

Xxx

Butler was at a loss.

He knew by now the fox was a magical creature; when she’d fallen asleep, her tails had split into six, and her hoshi had been revealed. 

As if by luck, Artemis had returned to him yesterday.

He’d spoken to Artemis, purely hypothetical of course; and learned about what her hoshi was. He had taken it to keep her from running away while she was wounded.

But that just encouraged Artemis to come snooping around, so he had to make up things that that captive fairy was doing to keep Artemis occupied.

Her big intelligent eyes focused on the hoshi as he got her comfortable.

He had finally gotten her to eat a little fish and rice that he got for her.

Butler pet her and she comforted him as he fell asleep.


	3. Heist

Reiko woke early, and found herself in her human form. The human—Butler—was still asleep.

She started rummaging through his things. She found a snack, munching on some cheese as she resumed the search for her hoshi.

Where was it? Did that meddling human Artemis Fowl take it? No! She must be free!

She jumped as something clattered to the floor.

Reiko knelt and picked it up. Her hoshi! The talismans stung, obviously the work of that Fowl boy, but she fought through the pain and took it.

Now she planned to esca—

A gun was pointed to the back of her head. She felt the cold steel against her.

“Don’t move. Stand up slowly and tell me who you are.”

Reiko’s glamour shattered.

“F-Fox?”

Xxx

Butler couldn’t believe what he was seeing, though he should be used to it by now.

He lowered his gun.

“The name’s Reiko.” She said. “Put that thing away, ningen.”

“My name is Butler.” He said. “You know that.”

Reiko turned, a trickster’s smile on her face. “Your name is Domovoi.”

Butler tried to hide his delight at hearing his name from her lips. He hadn’t expected her to be so pretty.

“So you’re going to leave now?” He looked at the hoshi in her hand.

Reiko smirked. “Now why would I do that?” Her smile widened. “It was just getting fun.


	4. Fascination

Artemis stared at her, fascinated. “So you are the fabled Fox of Fortune.”

Reiko hissed at him. “Yes, what of it.”

“So she is a fairy?” Butler asked.

“Not one of the official families.” Artemis said. “She is a yokai. They often resemble animals. But her power is great. Aren’t you around six hundred years old?”

“How did you—-“

“Your tails.” Artemis smiled.

“My glamour!” Reiko growled, trying to put up her flickering glamour and failing with Butler looking at her. She wanted him to see. Artemis, not so much.

“It is alright, Reiko.” Butler said. “Artemis will not harm you.”

There was a silence from the youth, unaccustomed to being commanded.

“Y-Yes.” Artemis said uncertainly, looking from Reiko to Butler. “I will not harm you.”

Reiko moved closer to Butler. He would protect her.


End file.
